This body of work began 12 years ago during an art residency in Taipei looking at, and recording Chinese public space. Unexpectedly, perhaps the most memorable experience there was taken from contemporary urban, rather than traditional Chinese culture. I scrawled the following description on the gallery wall in a show of work produced during the three month period:
At peak hour in a crowd we were waiting to cross Chunghsiao rd at the main station. A large bus was turning the corner we were standing on, it had a long mirror window, and the whole crowd was reflected in the window. As the bus turned, we were turned, our images turned around us, the bus window was 10 metres long, 1.2 metres above the ground and 2 metres wide. It carried our reflections for 20 or 30 metres upon it before we slid off.
The paintings in this show date from September 2013. The titles reflect the context of a period spent in Lyon, France earlier that year researching aspects of the weaving quarter there, particularly the Jacquard loom invented in the district. The Jacquard loom is the earliest digital industrial machine and provides a transparent view of digital carded information into physical processes. Tense threads suspended in complex formation between the tall head board and loom bed. The idea of the painting as a loom appeals to me, conjuring with elements in a finely calibrated field.
I hope the work engages both a physical architectural sense of place and a contemplative association with contemporary public spaces.
Nameer Davis
August 2015
Image: A13 synthetic polymer on woven polyester 101cm x 122cm
